ēnsso XS Pocket Copper Fountain Pen - Only 200 Available! (Sponsor)

The ēnsso XS Pocket Fountain Pen is a twelve-sided compact pen designed to extend into a full-size pen when capped. Introduced in 2018 by ēnsso, it has become their best selling and most loved pen. The standard model is available in black aluminum, but each year ēnsso releases a limited edition version in a different metal. The brass and titanium pens have proven to be popular because of the added weight and material properties.

A new edition of only 200 pens in Copper has just been announced and can be reserved for a September 2020 delivery. It measures 95 mm when capped and 130 mm when posted. It has a diameter of 10.3 mm and weights 29 g, and includes a #5 black steel nib made by Bock in Germany. The XS features O-rings as the cap’s locking mechanism, which allows for a fast uncapping and capping. It is priced at $69 and comes with 2 spare O-rings, black ink cartridge, and box.

With a low quantity run and an attractive price point, the XS Pocket Fountain Pen in Copper is sure to go quickly.

My thanks to ēnsso for sponsoring The Pen Addict this week.

Posted on August 3, 2020 by Brad Dowdy and filed under Featured Sponsor.

ystudio Letter Paper Set Review

As I do with every ystudio review, I start off by stating how much of a fan of the brand I am. The look, the feel, the marketing - all of it works for me. That extends to the Letter Paper Set as well, but there is one additional question I have to ask of the brand for the first time: Why?

The design of the Letter Paper Set is as beautiful and well made as all ystudio products that have come before it. It’s listed as part of their Brassing lineup, which is a bit confusing as this isn’t a writing instrument. It does carry the same black and brass aesthetic though.

This A5 writing pad contains a feature that you don’t normally see in other stationery products, at least not ones from this century. Behind each of the first 10 sheets is a second, carbonless, copy sheet. The idea, according to ystudio, is to write a letter, mail it off, and keep a copy of the correspondence for yourself.

I get it. It’s not a bad idea at all. Carbon and carbonless copy papers have been around for as long as we have been writing regularly, but I have to ask: Do we need it?

Even as a fun, throwback, stationery product, the ystudio Letter Paper set leaves a lot to be desired. For starters, there are just 13 sheets per pad, with only the first 10 of those sheets backed, as mentioned above. It also ships with 5 envelopes as part of the set, so in combination with the page counts, you have a lot of management ahead of you if you want to make the best use of it.

If you want to use this product as intended, you should know that fountain pens need not apply. I have a heavy hand when writing, so using something like the ystudio Brassing Rollerball is the perfect choice to effectively copy your handwriting to the carbonless page. With fountain pens, I don’t - and don’t want to - press as hard as it would require to see my words on the copy page, even with the built-in backing board giving me something to press down on.

As odd as I find this product, I can’t help but be enamored with the paper itself. Maybe it’s the ystudio fanboy in me coming out, but the brass lines on the off-white page really pop. The pages are thin, so there is some ghosting, and it is absorbent, so you won’t see much shade or sheen if you do choose to use a fountain pen, but there is no feathering to speak of. I wouldn’t want a 200 page journal with this paper, but give me a 30 page pad, drop the copy sheets, and sell letter envelopes as a separate 10-pack. Then we have a product I can really get behind.

Because right now, at $40, this is not a product I can recommend. Yes, it features the ystudio style I love, and yes, this is a brand that makes premium products and charges accordingly. The difference is that I can see a use case for their other products. There is a very limited use case to be made for the Letter Paper Set.

(Vanness Pens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Posted on August 3, 2020 by Brad Dowdy and filed under ystudio, Notebook Reviews.

Misfill, Meowtivational Edition

Each week in Refill, the Pen Addict Members newsletter, I publish Ink Links as part of the additional content you receive for being a member. And each week, after 10 to 15 links, plus my added commentary on each, I'm left with many great items I want to share. Enter Misfill. Here are this weeks links:

— Artist Draws Wholesome Watercolor Comics Where A Cat Is Giving Out Mental Health Advice (Design You Trust)

— How I Reuse My Retro 51 Rollerball Refills (Shawn on YouTube)

— Every Last Vote (Vote Save America)

— Ink Review #249: Robert Oster Great Southern Ocean (Fountain Pen Pharmacist)

— Skateboarding Architecture: A Tour of Legendary Skate Spots (Kottke)

— Place depicted in Van Gogh's final painting found with help of postcard (The Guardian)

— Fountain Pens (The Finer Point)

— The Black creatives behind Bernardine Evaristo’s guest-edited Sunday Times Style issue (It’s Nice That)

— Pocket Size Review 46: Sailor Professional Gear, Colorverse Brunch Date (Penquisition)

— Sophia Yeshi on lifting each other up, fighting for better representation, and creating the world she wants to see (Creative Boom)

— Behold 19th-Century Japanese Firemen’s Coats, Richly Decorated with Mythical Heroes & Symbols (Open Culture)

— On Nibmeisters (SBREBrown)